Liam Weeks

We Don’t Like (to) Party. A Typology of Independents in Irish Political Life, 1922–2007

Abstract This article examines the phenomenon of Independents, or non‐party candidates, in Irish political life. It has two main aims: the first is to disaggregate Independents from ‘others’ to provide a definitive dataset of their electoral performance, and to enable more reliable and valid analysis about this actor. The second, and primary, aim is to use this disaggregation to construct a typology of Independents. The background of every Independent candidate contesting a general election between 1922 and 2007 is examined, from which they are grouped into a number of Independent families and sub‐categories. A detailed profile is provided of each of these categories, describing their key characteristics and respective electoral performances. It is shown that Independents form a residual heterogeneous category, about whom a better understanding can be achieved if their diversity is appreciated.

The 2009 Local Elections in the Republic of Ireland

Abstract Elections to 114 local authorities were held on 5 June 2009 against the backdrop of a struggling economy. It was not surprising that the problems besetting the national finances dominated the election campaign, relegating local government policy issues like planning, housing and roads to the margins of the debate. With the opposition parties successfully turning the elections into a referendum on the performance of the national government it was an uphill struggle for Fianna Fáil and the Green Party to keep the focus local. Ultimately the 2009 local elections in the Republic of Ireland confirmed the maxim that local elections are used to give sitting governments a mid‐term shock. Fianna Fáil suffered its worst ever local election performance and Fine Gael emerged as the largest party at local authority level. As is customary at local elections, independents and others also experienced profitable returns.

Rage Against the Machine: Who is the Independent Voter?

Abstract One particular type of minor candidate outside of the party circle is the independent. Perhaps the most exceptional feature of the Irish political (party) system, the persistence and significance of independents have exceeded that of many minor parties. This presence is pretty unusual in most liberal democracies, where independents are seen as irrelevant at best, and a menace at worst. This article assesses the support bases of these candidates. Beginning with aggregate data, it details where independents have experienced success and the consistency (or lack) of their vote. Using individual‐level data, the nature of the independent voter is determined. It is found that there are few social bases to such a vote. Localism, personalism and protest are significant factors, but an independent vote is more of an expression of apathy towards parties rather than a specific antipathy.

Candidate selection: democratic centralism or managed democracy?

This chapter is concerned with the process by which the political parties picked their candidates for the general election. This encompasses a number of themes, including how the parties selected their candidates; how they decided on the number of candidates to run; who was selected; and the underlying tensions between the local and national party organisations in the pursuit of their separate strategies. This tension is often portrayed as the battle between the forces of democratisation and centralisation, and the media like to stir up the sense of internecine intra-party conflict. The grassroots of the party support democratisation because it affords them a greater role in the process, while the party executives are generally in favour of greater centralisation. This chapter assesses the extent to which there is really a battle between these forces; whether it is a ‘phoney war’; or whether the two work together in peaceful coexistence.

Minor Parties: A Schema for Analysis

Abstract This paper is an introduction to the study of minor parties in Ireland. It tackles a number of themes that are explored in more detail by other contributors in this volume, including the influence of minor parties, their electoral performance and the factors explaining the level of variation in these two areas. As the title suggests, this paper is a schema for how this topic can be approached. In particular it answers some of the key preliminary questions that are necessary before any analysis into this area can be conducted. Such questions include determining the number of, and support for, minor parties in Ireland vis‐à‐vis their European counterparts. It is found that although competing in a smaller arena than other comparative parliaments, the impact of minor parties in Ireland has been considerable.

Crashing the Party: Does STV Help Independents?

Parties tend to be wary of candidate-centred electoral systems, which is one factor why the use of the Single Transferable Vote (STV) is limited to a few cases. One source of this wariness is that STV is thought to favour non-party candidates, or independents, a claim based primarily on the experience of Ireland. The relative absence of independents in Australia and Malta, the other two countries using STV for national elections, challenges the merits of this reasoning. This study re-examines the nature of this causal link using constituency-level data from the Irish and Australian cases. The results indicate that there is not a great deal of evidence to support the hypothesis that STV favours independents, in particular because electoral system detail can affect a system’s ability to realize expected consequences. While constituency size, ballot access and ballot design affect support for independents, it is not always in the expected manner. This suggests that the non-party phenomenon is more than just a by-product of electoral system effects.

Minor Parties in Irish Political Life: An Introduction

Minor, or small, parties have been a persistent feature of political life in most European democracies since the earthquake elections in Scandinavia in the 1970s. They are an important feature of party systems, and hence of the study of party systems, because they are often treated as indicators of fragmentation, realignment and volatility. Indeed, the ability of minor parties to break into an established party system is often treated as the symptom of a democracy’s openness. On a similar line of thought minor parties’ size means they are especially open to the vagaries of institutional effects. Party registration rules, campaign finance and, of course, electoral systems can have quite an effect on the presence or otherwise of minor parties, the implication being that those wish to understand such effects would be well advised to look at minor parties’ experience. The problem for most minor parties is survival; many of them come and go, often to be replaced by other minor parties. Minor parties therefore pose a number of important questions for party scholars: Why do some parties persist? Why do others decline? Why are there more minor parties in some countries than others? Why do most of them remain minor? What do they reveal about the evolving nature of party systems in Europe? Are they part of a contemporary phenomenon of dealignment (from established parties) or realignment (to new parties)? Unfortunately it is quite difficult to answer many of these questions, since the field of minor parties is largely unexplored. While collective works by Müller-Rommel and Pridham (1991) and Deschouwer (2008) have expanded on some comparative themes in this area, there is still much lacking in the form of national studies. These are especially necessary to help move to, and develop, more comparative theories of minor parties. It is in this context that we first had the idea for a volume on minor parties, with Ireland a particularly apt case study given the impact of minor parties in that country’s

Rational, Reverential or Experimental? The Politics of Electoral Reform in Oceania

Oceania, with the exception of New Zealand, has received little comparative attention in studies of electoral reform. This article uses evidence from Fiji, Tonga, Papua New Guinea and Nauru, as well as New Zealand and Australia, in order to: understand the process of electoral reform at national and regional levels; examine variation in the process and consider whether theories of electoral reform from elsewhere apply to Oceania. It finds that electoral reform is a highly complex process that is influenced by the self-interest of parties, democratic values and diffusion. 除了新西兰，不大有人从比较选举改革的角度关注大洋洲。本文使用斐济、汤加、巴布亚新几内亚、瑙鲁以及新西兰和澳大利亚的资料，目的是在国家和地区的层面上理解选举改革的过程；探讨过程中的变异，并思考其他地方的选举改革理论是否适用于大洋洲。

The Subterranean Election of the Seanad

Elections to Seanad Eireann, the upper house of the Irish parliament, take place well out of the public eye and have been aptly described as ‘subterranean’.1 The nomination process is obscure, the electorate is small, and the body that emerges rarely captures the news agenda. Nevertheless, Seanad elections are sometimes regarded as the most hard-fought Irish elections of all. They are in every sense a professional politicians’ election, with most of the seats filled by the votes of elected representatives.

Alfie: the life and times of Alfie Byrne

Carthaigh does not let us down at the end and he rounds off the book with a thought-provoking final chapter. He makes the point that the achievement of public sector reform is not a vote-winner. Much of the work undertaken in the 2011–2016 period was internal to the civil service and did not receive public attention or recognition. Issues around the identity of the public service are also probed, with one political adviser remarking: ‘The notion that you can import somebody from the private sector to be a Secretary General is fanciful’ (p. 261). The categorisation of the Irish reforms is extremely useful; MacCarthaigh cautions against describing them merely as the implementation of NPM-type reforms. Rather, they equate more readily to a hybrid post-NPM model (it is also worth noting that MacCarthaigh’s perspectives, throughout the book, on cutback management are worth reading). In summary, I have no hesitation in recommending this book. It is a tremendous contribution to the existing literature in this field and I know that I will be using it extensively in the classroom. It provides a largely positive account of Ireland’s reforms (a danger perhaps with an insider case study?) but also poses questions for the future and, hopefully, a sustained ‘Post-crisis’ period. There are many challenges yet to be faced.